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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28527183">This is Good</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rory_writes/pseuds/Rory_writes'>Rory_writes</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>All For The Game - Nora Sakavic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Andrew is a dad, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Neil is a dad, Next Generation of Foxes, Parents, baby foxes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:09:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>17,005</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28527183</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rory_writes/pseuds/Rory_writes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry ‘MJ’ Minyard-Josten was not an easy kid to antagonize or get a rise out of. He was easily six feet tall, captain of the high school Exy team so he had endless patience, and after school he sometimes tutored middle schoolers in English lit. He was incredibly charming and unforgivably kind, and with his unfairly good looks, he could have been popular if he didn’t shy away from attention. Benjamin Roads was also on the team and he couldn’t stand MJ. With his bright smile, quick-to-blush cheeks, and those blonde curls, he was painful to be around. Which was why Ben had made it his goal for the year to get under his skin and push his buttons; find out what made MJ tick.</p><p>Meet MJ, Andrew and Neil's son.<br/>And Ben, the angry, lost high school Exy player who doesn't understand why he is so obsessed with the captain of the team.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ben Roads/Henry Minyard-Josten, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>83</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>319</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>This is Good</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I saw a post by @nazalensky on Tumblr about Andreil having a tall kid and this is what happened haha</p><p>TW: Slurs and child neglect</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Henry ‘MJ’ Minyard-Josten was not an easy kid to antagonize or get a rise out of. He was easily six feet tall, captain of the high school Exy team so he had endless patience, and after school he sometimes tutored middle schoolers in English lit. He was incredibly charming and unforgivably kind, and with his unfairly good looks, he could have been popular if he didn’t shy away from attention. Benjamin Roads was also on the team and he couldn’t stand MJ. With his bright smile, quick-to-blush cheeks, and those blonde curls, he was painful to be around. Which was why Ben had made it his goal for the year to get under his skin and push his buttons; find out what made MJ tick.</p><p>He’d started small, calling him ‘Henrietta’, to which the bastard had just said he didn’t find it offensive or insulting to be referred to as female because he didn’t consider them ‘lesser’ and in fact looked up to a lot of strong females in his life, including their Exy coach, Dan Wilds. After that interaction, Ben had needed a week to bathe in shame and re-evaluate his opinions and treatment of women. This included listening to two different podcast series on feminism, the experiences of women and casual misogyny, and apologize to his little sister for his attitudes, vowing to do better for her in the future. Lydia hadn’t quite understood being eight years old, but seemed to appreciate his words, nonetheless.</p><p>Then Ben went back to picking on his captain, this time with something else that was probably fairly obvious. He’d chosen to dig at him for being adopted. The hole ‘how are your abandonment and mommy issues’ kind of comments. To this, MJ just gave him a considering look, head tilted and all, and asked Ben about his own ‘mommy issues’ and reminded him that it wasn’t his fault his mom hadn’t fought for custody in the divorce.<br/>
One Friday after a home game, they were both tired and moody from the school week and the game that they’d lost, but neither of them had anywhere they needed to be. So when MJ sat down in the middle of the field that they both had to walk through to get home, Ben had tentatively sat across from him. While they sat in the night, sky turned dusky from cloud cover, MJ told Ben about his birth parents. His mom had been fourteen, but she’d kept in contact with him and they had breakfast together on the first Sunday of every month. Apparently, she’d graduated law school with honors and was a practicing prosecutor. MJ said he was proud of her, and that he held no hard feelings for her for giving him up because she was doing amazing things that she wouldn’t have been able to do with an infant. MJ’s father was locked up for life and he was cagey on the reasons why, but his adoptive fathers apparently wanted him out on parole so that they could take justice into their own hands.</p><p>The boys spent hours there that night, facing each other, watching the other speak, throwing blades of grass into their lapsand avoiding eye contact. Ben told MJ about how he felt responsible for his eight-year-old sister because their mom had disappeared off the face of the earth and their father was away on work for weeks on end. Ben was sixteen and sometimes it was scary and oftentimes exhausting. MJ said he knew what that felt like because of the foster homes he’d been in where the older kids were supposed to look after the ones who couldn’t look after themselves. Before MJ left, a phone call from one of his dads summoning him home, he took Ben’s hand in his and wrote the number of his social worker across his palm. He promised not to tell anyone about Ben’s home life or make the call himself, but he said that he would be there if Ben needed his help with any of it. MJ’s hair smelt like green apple shampoo when he was that close. Ben’s hand felt warm for a long time after MJ ran off in the direction of his house. He wasn’t sure how long his cheeks stayed pink; grateful that it was nighttime.</p><p>Another week passed and Ben spent most of it avoiding MJ’s attempts to talk or walk with him and getting into verbal arguments with his dad who was home for a short while. Ben wasn’t scared of much, but he was a little leery of his father, which was why it was bittersweet when he left again on the weekend. Lydia, even though she was only eight, was so used to her dad leaving that she didn’t ask when he would be back and instead offered to walk with Ben to the store to get ingredients for dinner.<br/>
With frustration simmering under his skin all weekend, Ben lashed out at MJ the moment their paths crossed Monday morning.<br/>
“Get the fuck out of my face! Just because you’re smart, and funny, and talented doesn’t mean you can traipse around the school like you own the place!”</p><p>Ben shoved away the regret he felt at the flash of hurt on the taller boy’s face; this was what he’d been aiming for when he’d concocted his plan in October.</p><p>“Rough weekend?” MJ asked carefully.</p><p>“Fuck off!” Ben groaned, annoyed by the fact that MJ was still <em>trying </em>to be nice, to show that he fucking cared or something. MJ just shrugged.</p><p>“This is my locker, Benji,” he said. Ben wasn’t sure when MJ had chosen to give him a nickname, but hearing it just then made him angry and he stormed away. <em>Fuck MJ. Fuck school. Fuck everything.</em> Ben just went home for the day until he had to walk to the elementary school to pick up Lydia. So, what if school called his dad because he’d cut class? His dad wasn’t going to explain he was in a different country and left his sixteen-year-old in charge of himself and a third grader, or cut his business trip short to come home and discipline him.</p><p>*</p><p>Ben didn’t see much of MJ in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. This time though, it wasn’t because Ben was avoiding him and more because of the other way around. MJ didn’t stop by Ben’s locker to ask him about his weekend or walk with him to classes and he stopped trying to invite Ben to join him and his friends for lunches. He sat as far away from Ben as he could in classes and didn’t spare him any more than basic constructive criticism at Exy practices and after games. Ben had grown used to his presence beside him on the bus to and from their away games, prattling on about anything and everything, and the bus ride was boring without the company. It wasn’t like Ben could stick around after practice or training with his dad gone anyway, needing to run to Lydia’s friend’s house to collect her, plastering the mom in assurances and apologies. Ben tried not to think about how he felt a little hollow without MJ’s kindness.</p><p>The Thanksgiving break was welcomed, although a little bit sad. Ben’s dad didn’t come home in time to celebrate and Ben’s culinary skills started and stopped with pasta, salad and microwaveable dishes. He could make packet mix brownies though, so on the day, he packed a backpack with water and juice, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, some fruit, and brownies before walking with Lydia to the bigger, more interesting local park in the neighborhood. It was empty, too cold for families to be celebrating outside in a public place. Ben had hoped that at least one or two other families would be there so that Lydia might be able to play with someone her own age, but as it was, they ate their lunch then stashed the backpack under a slide so that Ben could play pirates with his little sister.</p><p>Two hours passed and Ben was considering pulling the plug when he saw a group of kids coming onto the park at the other end. Lydia sent him a nervous but pleading smile, wanting to stay and try to make friends. Ben looked back at what was maybe ten kids with an adult walking behind them, a stick in one hand and a child’s fingers in the other. Actually, most of the kids were carrying sticks – Exy racquets – and the two older kids at the front were tossing a ball between them with practiced ease. It looked like some Little League Exy team was celebrating together.<br/>
“Alright, we can stay,” Ben told his sister, deeming the newcomers to be safe. Lydia didn’t wait for more, just whizzed down the pole and started running towards the picnic table the group was setting up at. Ben jumped off the platform he’d been standing on, racing after his sister before she barreled into the middle of a group of strangers, and it wasn’t until he was halfway towards them did he recognize the curly blonde hair and hear the familiar laugh. Of course, because the universe wanted him to be miserable on Thanksgiving, Henry Minyard-Josten was the guy he’d assumed to be an adult. Really, he had no business being that tall and broad.</p><p>“Do you want to play pirates with me?” Lydia demanded as soon as she was face-to-face with the group. MJ and his horde of children whirled around at the interruption and Ben put his hand on Lydia’s shoulder in case he was going to need to console her if they rejected her. Although, it was probably his own rejection he was not ready to face.</p><p>“Hello,” MJ said, taking one look at the pair of them and deducing their depressing Thanksgiving predicament. Ben gritted his teeth and waited for the comments when the other boy’s expression softened from wariness to something bordering on pity, but he didn’t say anything. “Pirates you said?” He asked Lydia with a friendly smile. “You’re Ben’s sister yeah?”</p><p>“Uh-huh! I’m Lydia!”</p><p>“Nice to meet you, Lydia, I’m MJ and these are my cousins Josh and Jade. They’re about the same age as you,” MJ said, tapping the top of one blonde head and then another, and Ben realized they must be fraternal twins.</p><p>“We’re eight!” Jade said.</p><p>“I like pirates!” Joshua added.</p><p>“Good! We can play, but…” she turned to face Henry. “You’re MJ?” She asked. MJ smiled and raised an eyebrow first at her, then at Ben who was a little curious to see where this was going.</p><p>“Yes, I am. You know of me?” He answered. Lydia nodded, smiling her gap-toothed grin.</p><p>“Benny smiles when he talks about you sometimes, so I ask lots and lots and lots of questions about you when he is sad!” She said. Ben didn’t know her questions had a calculated reason, but he was a little too mortified to dwell on that now.</p><p>“How about you three race to the top of the climbing frame? That’s the lookout, okay? Make sure you’re warning each other about alligators!” Ben said quickly, gently turning Lydia around and facing her towards the playground. The twins and Lydia ran off laughing and calling out the various rules of their imaginary game. God it was so easy making friends that small.</p><p>“You smile when you talk about me?” MJ asked, a smile pinching the corners of his mouth. Ben wanted to… well it made him angry and he wanted to make the smile go away.</p><p>“No,” Ben snapped. MJ opened his mouth to reply, but Ben didn’t trust the mischief on his face. “Shut the fu- um. Don’t? Please, don’t,” he said, remembering the infestation of children around them who were watching quietly. MJ’s smile only grew a little, but he nodded.</p><p>“I won’t,” he said quietly. “Anyway, give me two seconds to sort these guys out, then we can… hang?” He offered, that stupid smile still on his face and Ben hated it so much.</p><p>“Stop smiling at me like that,” Ben groaned. MJ bit his lip, but his brown eyes were still bright.</p><p>“Okay, Sam and Eli, you two are captains, but remember what your moms said! No headshots with the ball, Savannah that means you, too, and only half strength passes. And no one in goal,” MJ said to the children.</p><p>“I want to play on the playground,” a girl said.</p><p>“Good, you can take Buddy,” MJ replied, gently waving the hand of the youngest child still at his side. The girl groaned, but she stepped forward and scooped the three (four? Ben was really bad at guessing children ages) year old up. The children dispersed, the two older herding most of them to the stretch of green to set up a scrimmage. MJ hopped up on the picnic bench and patted the wood beside him in invitation to Ben. It took Ben a moment to take a – hopefully subtle – deep breath and climb up next to him, resting back on his hands. MJ looked over his shoulder at him before pulling his legs up and turning to sit cross-legged next to him, probably so as not to crane his neck when looking at him. Ben was intentionally not looking back so it didn’t matter to him.</p><p>“Is your family really this big?” Ben asked, watching Joshua and Lydia start chasing Jade across the top of the jungle gym, laughing their heads off. When MJ didn’t answer straight away, Ben caved and looked at him, but he realized too late that that had been MJ’s aim when he smiled crookedly in triumph. Ben just rolled his eyes and looked back towards his sister, but his own smile pulled at his mouth, a strange feeling uncoiling in his stomach. Maybe, for the sake of Thanksgiving, Ben could put his resentment aside for the rest of the day.</p><p>“Technically, no, but also yes,” MJ answered. Ben lolled his head to the side and raised his eyebrows.</p><p>“Cryptic,” he said. MJ laughed and shrugged with one shoulder, shuffling again to face the group of kids, leaning back on one hand and turning a little towards Ben as he spoke.</p><p>“Do you know who my dads are?” He asked. Ben, a little taken aback by where the conversation had gone, nodded slowly.</p><p>“Um yeah, they were pro Exy players, right? Retired, like, five years ago?”</p><p>“Six, they’ve had me for five, but yes. They were thirty-two and thirty-three when they retired,” he said and then chuckled. “My dad Andrew, he retired because he was just over it, but Neil was forced into retirement with a knee injury that same year. Apparently, he would have played himself into the ground otherwise.”</p><p>“Okay, so I get where your Exy obsession comes from,” Ben said wryly, looking at his profile. MJ tilted his head to flash him a grin.</p><p>“Yeah, pretty much, but anyway,” he said. “They moved out here when they retired to be closer to family. Andrew’s twin brother, my uncle Aaron, and his wife Katelyn are doctors at the general hospital. Josh and Jade are their kids. Holly is the oldest here, she’s twelve, but she doesn’t look it, right?” He pointed out the girl who’d taken Buddy to the playground. “Holly and Fletch are our coach’s kids, Coach Wilds? Her husband, Matt, is my dad Neil’s best friend and they live out here too, so it wasn’t hard for them to agree to move out here. His really name is Fletcher, but we only ever call him Buddy or Fletch.”</p><p>“Okay…” Ben said slowly. “And the rest of MJ’s after school care?”</p><p>“Well, Savannah and Sam are siblings and their mom is Allison Reynolds, the fashion designer, do you know her?”</p><p>“Um, kind of? I saw her name in the media after her husband got arrested for domestic abuse…” Ben answered. MJ sighed and nodded his head.</p><p>“Yeah, well Allison played on the same college team as my dads, and our coach and Matt, and Aaron, and well… all of these kids belong to someone on that team so keep that in mind. Allison bought me my car, not that I can drive yet, which annoyed my dad Andrew. He said I was supposed to get a job and work to buy my first car, but my other dad had to remind him he bought his first car with some life insurance money and then Neil bought Dad’s second car. Anyway!” MJ took a deep breath, his first one in a long moment, and Ben felt his head start to swim. No wonder he’d missed his company on the bus, he never shut the fuck up. “Allison and the kids live in Los Angeles. Sam plays on the same Little League team with his best friend Elijah, and Savannah plays with Eli’s little sister Lily and they are two sets of best friends. Lily and Eli are Renee’s kid, Renee is Allison’s best friend and they-”</p><p>“Played for the Foxes, I got that part,” Ben cut in. “I get it.”</p><p>“Yeah,” MJ agreed. “The last kid, he’s six and really shouldn’t be playing with the eleven-year-olds, is Davy. His mom is Thea Muldani, his dad is Kevin Day, so even though he is only small, he can play with the older kids and he keeps up better than you’d expect.”</p><p>“I’m genuinely not sure if any of that actually made sense, or if I am just used to your rambling by now,” Ben admitted.</p><p>“Basically, my dads’ college team is family, and their kids are, by extension, my cousins. And, well, I’m adopted so technically none of them are biologically related to me, but Josh and Jade are biologically related to one dad and Kevin is pretty much related to the other dad so...”</p><p>“Davy, Josh and Jade are your ‘real’ cousins. Holly, Buddy, Savannah, Sam, Lily and Eli are cousins, but not actually,” Ben said.</p><p>“Yeah,” MJ agreed, looking impressed. “Although, I see Holly and Buddy as much as I see Jade and Josh, so… Sam, Savvy, Eli and Lily living on the west coast makes it a little harder to see them as often, and Davy lives in South Carolina because Kevin wants to be close to his dad. But this whole squad…” he twirled his hand in the air to encompass everyone, “gets together twice a year at least. Usually for Thanksgiving and spring vacation</p><p>“South Carolina isn’t too far from New York,” Ben said dismissively. “Family is important to you guys. Even if it’s not by blood,” he observed.</p><p>“Especially if it’s not by blood,” MJ said. “My dads don’t tell me a lot about their lives from before college, but from what I know, this is the only family they really have, and they found it themselves.”</p><p>“Has anyone ever told you that you talk a lot?” Ben asked.</p><p>“Only you, at least a dozen times,” MJ replied, bumping their shoulders together.</p><p>“He talks a lot when he’s nervous,” someone said, making them both jump and lean away from where their shoulders had been brushing. Holly looked unamused by this display. “I just came for Fletch’s drink.”</p><p>“Here,” MJ said, leaning around Ben to grab the sippy cup from the table near his hand. “You good otherwise?”</p><p>“I’m fine,” Holly said with a smile. “I’m Holly, by the way.”</p><p>“Ben, nice to meet you,” Ben answered, a little surprised when the dark-haired girl held her hand out for him to shake, but he humored her, and she flounced away a moment later.</p><p>“She’s a very serious kid,” MJ said. “Takes after Coach Wilds.”</p><p>“Yeah, scratch that,” Ben said quickly. “You only talk a lot when you’re nervous?” Ben asked, trying not to smile. He didn’t know why the fact that MJ was nervous around him made him feel bubbly, but he liked it.</p><p>“You smile when you talk about me?” MJ shot back. Ben laughed for the first time in weeks and it made something tense inside his chest unravel. MJ did that a lot, surprised laughs out of him until he felt a little more at ease. Just another thing to be annoyed about, he supposed.</p><p>“Touché,” Ben replied. They sat in silence for a while, Ben keeping an eye on Lydia and the twins while MJ watched the scrimmage, and at some point their shoulders touched again, which turned into leaning against each other, which meant Ben had to ignore the twisting, fluttering feeling wanting his acknowledgment in his stomach. <em>Not today motherfucker, there is much too much shit to worry about without thinking too hard about this, </em>he told himself.</p><p>“Do you miss your dad?” MJ asked into the silence, voice gentle. Ben scrunched his face up a little and shook his head.</p><p>“Not really. I mean, I wish Dad was here to, you know, be a dad so I don’t have to do it… but we don’t really get along when he is here. The house is a lot nicer without him, and Lydia and I get along better when he’s not around anyway,” Ben admitted. He’d been looking after Lydia for longer and longer stretches since their mom left when he was twelve. It started for just a weekend, and now it was up to two months at a time, he was used to it.</p><p>“What about your mom?” MJ asked. That one kind of hurt and Ben instinctively leaned away, but when MJ put his hand on his forearm to stop him getting too far, Ben sighed and stilled.</p><p>“Yeah, I do. But not who she was before she left, because she wasn’t very nice to us by then. I miss who she was when I was little, like Lydia’s age,” he answered. MJ tugged his arm gently and Ben leaned into his shoulder again, so the taller boy let go.</p><p>“That’s sad,” MJ said. Ben didn’t say anything because there wasn’t really anything he could reply with. It was sad, it was tragic even, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.</p><p>“Why you?” He asked instead. MJ hummed in question, not following his train of thought. “Why did your dads choose you?” He explained. MJ huffed a laugh and shook his head, sending a glance Ben’s way before looking up at the sky as if asking for strength. “I mean, I know that’s kind of an insensitive question but…”</p><p>“But since when do you care about being rude and insensitive?” MJ finished for him. Ben shrugged because it was true, no matter how that made him sound. “I’ll answer the question, asshole, but only because there actually is a reason.”</p><p>“Good, enlighten me,” Ben replied in a haughty voice. MJ pushed him with another roll of his eyes.</p><p>“My dads asked for a kid who’d been in the system for a long time, seen a lot of different houses, you know? Possibly a ‘problem’ kid with ‘behavioral issues’,” MJ began. Ben raised his eyebrows at him, which just made MJ grin. “Yeah, I know, hard to believe that was me huh? Well, it was. I’d been in the system since birth and by the time I met them at eleven, I’d been in fourteen foster homes. My social worker said I had a problem with authority and liked to cause issues for the sake of causing issues.”</p><p>“You? Golden boy, straight A student, captain of the Exy team, English lit tutor, world’s best cousin and babysitter? Problem child?” Ben asked, knowing he sounded as disbelieving as he felt. MJ’s grin was amused, a dimple forming in his left cheek, and Ben had to swallow a frustrated groan. A dimple? <em>A dimple? Fucking asshole. </em></p><p>“Yeah, well, I was. I still have the same issues, I just deal with them better now,” MJ said. Ben frowned.</p><p>“What issues?”</p><p>“Well, you know that ‘respect your elders’ bullshit that teachers and most adults have?”</p><p>“Yeah?” Ben said slowly.</p><p>“Yeah. I hate that, like a lot. You have to earn my trust and respect, otherwise you don’t deserve it. Foster parents and teachers at the schools, and all the social workers and shit, they didn’t like that about me. So, when I fought back against their rules or didn’t give them the respect that they didn’t deserve because they were assholes in some way or another, I got into trouble. A lot.”</p><p>“And your dads, what, like that about you?” Ben asked. MJ laughed again, but he shook his head and made a <em>wait </em>gesture with his hand.</p><p>“So, I was handed over to these two men and immediately I was terrified. Neil has scars all over his face and hands, Andrew just looked like he didn’t smile or anything ever, and they were both wearing black armbands from their wrists to their elbows. I was concerned, to say the least,” he explained. Ben tilted his head, a little closer to MJ, and frowned.</p><p>“You talk about your parents with so much, like, adoration normally…?” Ben asked.</p><p>“Well, yeah,” he said with a laugh. “On that first day, I was wary as I said, but Andrew showed me my room and asked if I wanted a lock on my door. I had asked for one at previous homes, you know – been through some stuff – but I was declined for ‘safety reasons’ they said. So, Andrew straight off the bat, like it was the first thing he actually said to me, offering me a lock was kind of amazing.”</p><p>“Did you get the lock?”</p><p>“I did! We went and bought it immediately and I watched the two of them fight over how to install it,” he grinned. “They were useless, neither of them could manage to make it work so they had to call Coach Wild’s husband and he did it for me. Anyway, they let me keep both sets of keys to the lock, told me to give them the second one when I trusted them to only use it in case of emergency.”</p><p>“Have you given them the key?” Ben asked, wondering if he’d learnt to trust his parents or if his trauma ran deeper. MJ’s smile was soft and fond.</p><p>“Yeah, a year later when they asked me if they could adopt me. I asked if I could think about it and three days later, I went back to them with the key and said yes, I wanted to be their son.” MJ sounded pleased, happy as he thought back on the day. Ben leaned a little into his side, shoulders overlapping now, and MJ put his hand around behind Ben to keep him close. Ben pretended not to notice the way his chest squeezed, he just wanted to be closer to that happy feeling.</p><p>“Now, after all that, you’re a glorified babysitter,” Ben said with a teasing smile. MJ’s laugh was short and amused, Ben felt it rumble in his chest.</p><p>“I don’t mind it, mainly because that role was never forced on me. In the homes, we had to look after the younger kids, we didn’t get a choice of whether or not we wanted to babysit. My dads always gave me a choice. Did I want to hang out with them and the other adults, or did I want to entertain the kids? I could always go sit on my own in my room too, and I’ve never been forced to participate in Christmas or anything if I didn’t want to.”</p><p>“When given the choice, you found you wanted to join in and be a part of it all?” Ben guessed. MJ hummed in agreement and nodded his head, his blonde curls brushing Ben’s cheek, a reminder of how close they were sitting. Ben’s mouth felt dry.</p><p>“How about you? You get along with your sister,” MJ said. Ben sighed, turning his face to where Lydia was racing Jade up the slide, one long brown ponytail and one long blonde one streaming out behind them like banners. Ben put one hand in his own straight, brown hair and tugged it.</p><p>“Yeah, we get along because it’s always us, whether dad is there or not we always have each other. Big brother instinct, I guess? I would kill for her, and I’d die for her, but fuck she gets on my nerves sometimes,” he said.</p><p>“I understand that,” MJ mused. “Kids kind of suck sometimes. I’m waiting for them to start fighting.” He waved his hand in the direction of the scrimmage.</p><p>“I thought you said that they were best friends?” Ben asked.</p><p>“Well, yeah, but don’t you fight with your best friend? Especially when you were a kid?” MJ replied. Ben chewed on the inside of his cheek feeling a little small and insecure. Ben had never really had a best friend. He’d always been that little bit moodier than kids his age, holding a little more responsibility on his shoulders that set him apart as different. He didn’t have friends now either, not really. He had the Exy team, he had his eight-year-old sister, and he had MJ.</p><p>“I fight with everyone,” he muttered because it was the closest to the truth without admitting he had no friends. MJ saw right through it.</p><p>“Even your shadow when you sit alone at lunch?” He teased.</p><p>“I think that’s the meanest thing you’ve ever said,” Ben commented with a lazy smile. MJ froze and started to apologize, but Ben waved that away with his hand. “Relax, it’s good to know you’re not perfect.”</p><p>“Why do you sit alone?” MJ asked quietly. Ben sighed and shrugged, tilting his head back, but that just meant he was resting on MJ’s shoulder. Ben stayed there.</p><p>“People stress me out,” Ben answered. It was hard to fit in, to be liked, he’d just learnt to give up trying and for the most part, Ben liked his own company.</p><p>“Do I stress you out?” MJ asked. Ben’s laugh surprised them both and he lifted his head off MJ’s shoulder, twisting to look at his face.</p><p>“You stress me out the most,” he admitted. MJ grinned and shifted his weight so he could put his palm on Ben’s cheek, only to push his face away.</p><p>“You’re an idiot,” MJ decided, letting his hand drop away. That wasn’t really news to Ben.</p><p>“Yeah well, tell me something I don’t know,” he agreed, looking at him again now that he wasn’t being pushed away. MJ just rolled his eyes, lips parted on a soft sigh. Ben swallowed and chewed on his lip as he watched.</p><p>“You’re staring at me,” MJ noted after a while, but Ben didn’t look away because the blonde boy was staring right back. “Can I ask you something?”</p><p>“If you must,” Ben agreed.</p><p>“Why do you keep trying so hard to get under my skin? You clearly don’t hate me all that much, not really,” he said, gesturing at the scant space between them. Ben made a face at him, wrinkling his nose and scrunching his eyebrows together in what he hoped portrayed annoyance at the question. MJ just smiled and reached up with his hand to smooth the wrinkle between his eyebrows. Ben’s eyes half closed against his will at the touch. “You going to answer me?”</p><p>“No,” Ben said. He didn’t have the words to explain it.</p><p>“Are you going to stop trying to make me hate you?”</p><p>“Probably not,” he answered honestly, opening his eyes when MJ lowered his hand.</p><p>“I didn’t think so,” he said with a wry smile. Ben shrugged turning his face away, not wanting to look into his dark eyes anymore. Lydia waved at him from the top of the jungle gym and he waved back, just as Josh pretended to be an alligator and she had to start screaming at Jade to turn the pirate ship.</p><p>“MJ! MJ! MJ! Savannah broke the rules!” Eli yelled. The two boys on the bench looked over to see Sam trying to take the racquet off his sister while Eli and Davy patted Lily’s shoulder. MJ sighed and flicked a look at Ben as if to say, <em>I told you so. </em></p><p>“I’m going to go deal with that, will you stick around?” MJ asked, hopping from the table. Ben chewed on his lap and slid his eyes to his sister who looked as if she was never leaving the playground ever again.</p><p>“Yeah, I’ll stick around,” Ben said quietly. MJ grinned and walked off to sort out the altercation with his cousins and Ben kept his gaze on his lap, waiting for him to come back.<br/>
When MJ returned, they steered away from some of the deeper conversations about family and Ben wasn’t sure if he was surprised or not when he found out they both grew up a little obsessed with the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series. They argued over which genre of movie was better, and if The Great Gatsby was a better book than it was a movie, and they had equal opinions on video games being a waste of time. They started talking about music, but when MJ laughed so hard at Ben’s favorite song his head fell forward onto Ben’s shoulder, Ben made them drop the conversation and sulked for a few minutes. Ben only stopped sulking when MJ lifted his face from Ben’s shoulder and nudged his cheek with his nose until he smiled.<br/>
“Better,” MJ decided, leaning back away.</p><p>“You’re the worst,” Ben complained. MJ flicked him in the back of the head, laughing again, but he didn’t argue. “Hey, seeing as though you’re so close to Coach Wilds and all that, is it true she’s retiring end of this year?” Ben asked.</p><p>“Not retiring, she’s going to Palmetto to coach the Foxes when Coach Wymack retires at the end of this season,” MJ explained. Ben groaned and tipped his head back, again resting his head on MJ’s shoulder.</p><p>“Who is going to be our coach then?” Ben asked. MJ made an annoyed noise, looking down at Ben and making a face.</p><p>“My dad,” he answered.</p><p>“Excuse me?” Ben demanded, sitting up straight and turning to look at him. “A famous Exy player? A legend?”</p><p>“Yeah,” MJ agreed, sighing. “Neil is going to be the new Exy coach, and he’s apparently going to be teaching math at school too.”</p><p>“Is he qualified?” Ben asked, trying to find loopholes. He was a little mortified at the idea of spending afternoons with MJ’s father and being coached by an Exy legend. MJ laughed at the question and nodded his head.</p><p>“My dad did a masters of teaching when he got bored after retiring. My other dad is doing a PhD in literature at the moment, but I think that’s mostly because he wants to be Dr. Minyard too so he can piss off his brother,” MJ explained.</p><p>“Christ,” Ben muttered. MJ grinned, enjoying Ben’s reaction, and nodded his head.</p><p>“Don’t you complain! My dad is going to be my coach and my math teacher, and I have to go home with him. Pity me,” he said, but his grin was a stark contrast to his words.</p><p>“I do pity you, just not for that,” Ben said on instinct. MJ just rolled his eyes, but before he could respond, his phone rang.</p><p>“Hey Dad,” he answered, clicking the phone on speaker.</p><p>“Hey kid, can you bring the mini monsters back? Aaron is going to have kittens if the twins are out after dark.”</p><p>“Sure thing,” MJ replied before mouthing <em>Andrew</em> at Ben.</p><p>“See you soon,” Andrew said before the phone cut off. MJ made an apologetic face at Ben and slid from the bench.</p><p>“Come on monsters! Time to go back to my house!” He yelled, making a roundup motion with his hand. There was a chorus of complaints and annoyance from his cousins, but Holly stood up to the plate and started helping everyone pack up.<br/>
“I’ll see you at school?” MJ asked, turning to Ben as Lydia and the twins started running over.</p><p>“Where else would I be?” Ben replied, pulling his sweater around himself. He didn’t like the feeling in his chest as MJ started getting ready to leave.</p><p>“Yeah,” MJ said with a shake of his head, as if disappointed in his response and looped an arm around both of the twins to guide them away. “Bye, Benji.”</p><p>“Bye,” Ben said, catching Lydia by the arm before she could run off after her new friends.</p><p>“I want to go to their house for dinner!” She whined. Ben felt a sharp twinge in his chest.</p><p>“I know, Lydia,” he said quietly. “But we have to go home now.”</p><p>“We do?” She checked, looking up at him. He just nodded sadly at her. “I will get your bag,” she told him. He smiled at her and slipped off the table to walk with her.</p><p>“Thanks Lyds,” he said, taking the bag off her from where they’d stashed it under the slide before. She held her hand out and he took it in his, walking with his little sister back to their empty, dark house to eat pasta for dinner and watch cartoons. It felt hollow, after spending the afternoon in MJ’s warm orbit.</p><p>“Do you like Jade and Josh’s cousin?” Lydia asked when Ben put her to bed.</p><p>“I don’t know, Lydia, it’s complicated,” he answered.</p><p>“Then uncomplicate it,” she said, rolling over and tucking her Care-bear under her arm. Ben shook his head at her, kissed the top of her hair and closed the door behind him on the way out. Before he went to bed, he made sure all the doors and windows were locked and turned the hallway light on for Lydia if she woke up in the night.<br/>
<em>‘Uncomplicate it.’ Yeah. I don’t know how. </em></p><p>***</p><p>As Ben walked the hallway on the first day back after Thanksgiving break, his stomach toiled and boiled and bubbled until he felt ill. He hadn’t seen or spoken to MJ since Thanksgiving afternoon, but he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. That wasn’t a very new feeling for Ben, he was often thinking about MJ, but he couldn’t get Lydia’s words out of his head. <em>Uncomplicate it. </em>He’d hoped that seeing MJ again would help him know how to do exactly that. He hoped it would help him make sense of everything. That hope was melting away like a candle next to the sun as he walked closer to MJ’s locker. He saw the tall, broad shouldered teen closing his door with his hip as he reorganized the books in his backpack, and something inside Ben snapped taut. He was tired of feeling all messed up and confused because of the one person. He was angry and annoyed, and just so damn tired. He went to turn away and give up, he didn’t need to do this, but MJ chose that moment to lift his head up and look over. He grinned at Ben, putting his bag down on the floor as if expecting Ben to walk over and give him a hug.<br/>
“Hey! How was your break?” MJ asked as Ben walked hesitantly closer.</p><p>“Awful,” Ben replied sullenly.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” MJ said, and what made it worse was that he actually sounded genuine.</p><p>“Whatever,” Ben replied, standing in front of him now.</p><p>“Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to come over some time after school? Maybe next time your dad is back when you don’t have to look after Lydia?” MJ invited, talking quieter than he usually did, and Ben realized too late that he was reaching for Ben’s hands where they twisted the strap of his bag. Ben yanked it away from him, dropping his bag to the ground in the process. His heart was hammering, the bell was going, there was people moving everywhere and Ben felt confused and ashamed, and a little like he was going to cry.</p><p>“I’m not like you,” Ben hissed, unsure where the words came from. MJ was immediately on the backfoot and he leaned away from Ben with a frown.</p><p>“Okay?” He said carefully. The halls were emptying fast, as students disappeared into classes, but Ben didn’t care anymore, and MJ didn’t seem to be in a rush either.</p><p>“I’m not gay,” Ben snapped. MJ just quirked an eyebrow, lips thinning as he sighed out his nose and leaned into his locker. Ben wanted to yell at him to just do something. To react. To be less than perfect for one moment. “So, it’s true what they say. Gay couples turn their kids gay,” he spat at him. MJ’s face shuttered and he straightened off his locker. Ben’s heart sank into his shoes, but he gritted his teeth and met his gaze.</p><p>“When I realized I was bi, I told myself I wasn’t going to act on it because I fucking knew people were going to <em>blame </em>or say shit like that about my dads, and they have been through so much in their life that I just… I didn’t want to be another problem. I have never wanted to be another problem for them. So, I was going to keep myself shut away, and then you, with your stupidly cute fucking face and those sad eyes and sharp words, and big ass heart came into my life and I couldn’t do fuck all to stop myself from getting a crush on you even though you’re an asshole,” he said. He spoke calmly, but there was no emotion in his face or in his words. Ben felt sick. “Grow up, deal with your shit, and get over yourself Benji.”</p><p>“Fuck you,” Ben spluttered, but his brain was fuzzing over <em>crush on you</em>.</p><p>“You’re also off the team,” MJ said, uncrossing his arms. That snapped Ben’s attention back.</p><p>“What?” He demanded, anger boiling over again.</p><p>“We can’t have homophobic assholes on our team, Benji.”</p><p>“You can’t do that!”</p><p>“Can’t I? Why don’t you talk to Coach Wilds about? The woman who came to my house for Thanksgiving, you know, with my two dads? The openly bisexual woman married to the openly bisexual man? Or, you can try again next year!” He said the last part mock brightly, his smile false. “When my dad, who is married to another man, who is raising a bisexual kid, is coach. That will work too.” The look on his face told Ben he knew he’d won, but Ben now wasn’t sure what the game was. In the blink of an eye, Ben had lost two of the most important things in his life. Exy, the one thing that gave him purpose every day and a team even if he didn’t engage all that much with them. And MJ… which was still a complicated feeling for Ben to try and untangle. A pressure so intense it hurt was building behind Ben’s ribs. So, that was it. MJ was disappointed and Ben was off the team. Oh well. Damage done. Ben destroyed everything good, he always had, and now he had nothing left to lose. With fear, and anger, and desperation clawing up his throat, Ben opened his mouth. The word drenched in poison sat on the tip of his tongue. The slur that he was afraid of ready to be thrown at MJ, at his dads, at all of them. Something flashed behind MJ’s eyes as if he knew what was coming. Quicker than he knew MJ could move off the Exy court, Ben was caught by the front of his jersey and slammed into MJ’s locker so hard the entire row rattled. Ben swallowed the word, the poison, staring up into MJ’s face. The anger he kept bridled, that had been doused and controlled by the love and support of his parents, was simmering in his eyes.<br/>
“Say it. Go on, I fucking dare you,” he growled. Ben could see the threat written all over his features. Well, Ben had done it. Ben had made MJ lose his cool. Only now that it was too late did Ben realize this wasn’t what he wanted. Yes, he wanted to be the reason MJ unraveled, but not like this. This wasn’t fun. Sitting on a park bench, stealing glances at each other, and ribbing each other at practices or avoiding eye contact when they told truths was more fun than this was. Ben internally recoiled at himself. He’d done it all wrong. He didn’t want this. He needed to fix this, he just didn’t know if he could.<br/>
MJ pulled him forward again, only to slam him back against the lockers, his teeth nearly splitting his own lip. Ben’s already panicked heart kicked up a gear.<br/>
“Say it, coward. Say what it is you want to fucking say,” MJ challenged.</p><p>“Kiss me,” Ben blurted, the hands he’d pressed against the lockers coming up to hold the zips of MJ’s jacket. The taller boy blinked as if Ben had struck him across the face. The anger gave way to confusion, but his fisted grip on the jersey didn’t loosen. The silence dragged on, encompassing them, and even as fear gripped Ben, his defiance was stronger, and he refused to look away from his face.</p><p>“What?” MJ said after a long moment.</p><p>“Kiss. Me,” he repeated, jutting out his chin.</p><p>“You’re crazy,” MJ said in disbelief.</p><p>“Probably,” Ben allowed.</p><p>“And really disturbed,” MJ continued.</p><p>“Most likely,” Ben agreed, flexing his grip on MJ’s jacket.</p><p>“You have issues,” MJ said firmly, probably referring to the fact that it took MJ hurting him to snap through Ben’s pretenses and find the truth.</p><p>“Obviously,” Ben replied, rolling his eyes.</p><p>“Okay…”</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>“I’m going to kiss you now,” MJ said. He chewed on his lip, eyes searching Ben’s face for something, but the anticipation was eating through Ben’s stomach.</p><p>“Okay,” Ben whispered.</p><p>“Okay,” MJ agreed. He hesitated for one more moment and Ben’s heart lurched and fluttered in his chest before MJ tilted his head. Ben closed his eyes as MJ slotted their lips together. Ben knew he was holding his breath, but he didn’t know what else to do. This is what he’d wanted for months and the intensity of his feelings had got him all turned around, but it was this and he’d never wanted something more.<br/>
MJ pulling away was the only thing that shocked Ben into breathing. He let his head fall back against MJ’s locker, still holding on to his jacket. MJ looked more than a little dazed, but he uncurled his fists from Ben’s jersey and stared at them as if unsure why they’d been threatening violence in the first place. Ben, regaining some composure – even though the kiss had been no more than a hesitant press of lips –, tugged on the jacket for attention. MJ slid his gaze to Ben and let out a slow breath framed by a smile.<br/>
“You’re blushing,” he observed, dropping one hand to Ben’s shoulder and touching his cheek with the other.</p><p>“Yeah, well, whatever,” Ben huffed. MJ ran his thumb along Ben’s cheek and Ben half-closed his eyes at the touch.</p><p>“It’s cute,” MJ said softly.</p><p>“I don’t blush, that’s your job,” Ben grumbled. MJ laughed and Ben watched the joy and wonder cross his face. He smiled and let go of the jacket, dropping his hands to his waist, searching his face to make sure it was okay.</p><p>“Can I kiss you again?” MJ asked. Ben nodded quickly, probably too quickly, and closed the gap himself. MJ caged Ben with his hand and his body, the other hand still against Ben’s cheek. Ben felt like his stomach was on fire as MJ kissed him. It wasn’t hesitant this time. Not so much a question as it was an answer. MJ pulled back first again, only to put his face against Ben’s neck and hug him close. Gingerly, Ben let go of the jacket and wrapped his arms around MJ’s middle under his jacket, hiding his smile in his blonde curls.<br/>
“This is a bad idea,” MJ murmured. Ben’s smile turned coy and he pushed MJ away to look up at him.</p><p>“If it helps, I often have a house without parental supervision,” he said. MJ blushed, which restored the equilibrium of the universe, and shook his head.</p><p>“I meant us standing out here while classes are on,” MJ said. “Besides, that little suggestion won’t fly with my parents,” he added, scooping up his bag.</p><p>“Helicopter parents?” Ben guessed. MJ snorted, handing Ben his own bag.</p><p>“Not at all. They’re just not stupid,” he answered. Ben shrugged, not really able to confirm or deny. “Also, you owe me a thousand kisses for the bullshit over the past however many months.”</p><p>“Okay,” Ben agreed, thrilled with that and also more than a little ashamed of himself. “I’ll try to be a little less of an asshole.”</p><p>“I’ll believe that when I see it,” MJ replied, not giving away much in his expression. “And, you’re still on the team.”</p><p>“Cool,” Ben said, trying not to show how relieving that was. “Hey, MJ?”</p><p>“Hm?” He hummed, eyebrows raised.</p><p>“I’m not sure I’m, you know, ready to just tell people about…” Ben trailed off, looking at his shoes. MJ curled his fingers under Ben’s chin, guiding his face back up so they were able to look each other in the eye.</p><p>“I’m not either. Let’s just see what happens,” he said. Ben nodded and when MJ ducked his head to kiss him again, Ben leaned into it to make sure it was real. “Let’s go to class,” he said against Ben’s mouth.</p><p>“Dating the head of the class is going to suck sometimes,” Ben muttered. MJ grinned and nodded his head.</p><p>“Probably,” he confirmed. One more quick kiss and the tall boy was walking off down the hall towards his first class. Ben wondered what it was he was going to get into trouble for being late or if he would somehow talk himself out of it. Ben wouldn’t have as much luck and was most likely going to get a lunchtime detention, but maybe it was worth it.</p><p>***</p><p>It took three months for Ben to see MJ lose his cool again. Christmas came and went, as did Ben’s dad, and the two teenagers kept their relationship secret from everyone in their lives. Lydia grew used to MJ being there after school and Ben got used to doing homework with his legs thrown over MJ’s lap. That’s until one of them broke and they went to Ben’s bedroom and made out, talked, and giggled while they waited for MJ’s dads to summon him home. Ben started sitting with the team at lunch times, even if he just stayed quiet at MJ’s side, eating peanut butter sandwiches, and letting MJ hook his ankle behind his or play with his fingers under the table. Their teammates appeared to be none the wiser, and after two or three weeks, they accepted their new normal as if it had always been like this. Ben found peace, and for the first time in a long time, he considered that he might be a little bit happy.<br/>
That was probably why he did it. After three months of feeling safe and content, in a moment of oversight as Ben and MJ walked towards their classes after lunch, Ben had slipped his hand into MJ’s. His boyfriend had squeezed tightly and blushed darkly, and smiled widely, and Ben felt warm and fuzzy for all of three seconds. One of the senior boys, who walked around like he owned the school and the world owed him something, saw and disgust crossed his face in a twisted curl of his mouth. He unleashed a torrent of hateful words and as Ben started to shiver with fear and shame, MJ’s eyes flashed with that anger Ben had seen once before. MJ moved before Ben could blink, his fist connecting with a sickening crunch to the older boy’s jaw. Ben followed his boyfriend, wanting to intervene before MJ got hurt, but the senior was faster and closer. MJ got clocked in the nose and it immediately started gushing blood. Ben’s already racing heart flew into his mouth at the sight of blood, but he realized nearly immediately that trying to pull MJ back only gave the senior easier access and let go of his thrashing boyfriend.<br/>
“MJ!” He cried out, expertly blocking a hit and throwing one of his own. “Stop!”</p><p>“Back off, Ben,” MJ growled back, spitting blood out of his mouth. The senior, who thankfully had been walking alone, tried to trip MJ onto his back, but the blonde was faster and kicked him in the leg. Ben leapt forward again, this time to get between them, shoving both boys in the chest. The senior didn’t hesitate to throw a punch at him, and Ben wore it on the side of his face, but MJ lowered his fists immediately and took a shaky step backwards.</p><p>“Stop!” Ben yelled again, this time at the senior. “It’s the twenty-first century, get with it!”</p><p>“You know, I get it,” MJ snarled behind Ben. “Being raised a homophobe must be really, really difficult for you. Always expected to be a default setting and never a human being…”</p><p>“Henry Minyard-Josten!” The yell that cut MJ’s rant off was loud, and familiar, and both Exy playing teenagers stood up straighter at the sound of their coach’s voice. “I know your fathers taught you that little tirade and to fight, but that will not fly on campus,” Dan growled, coming up to the three of them.</p><p>“Yes, Coach,” MJ ground out between his teeth.</p><p>“You three, in my office now, and you have detention until four-thirty after school,” Vice-Principal Wilson snapped at the students. MJ and the senior boy immediately started arguing, and Ben had a split moment in which to wish Coach Wilds hadn’t been walking with another faculty member before he was thrown headfirst back into panic.</p><p>“I can’t stay at school until four-thirty.” He forced the words out through his tight throat, sending one pleading look at his coach and then a panicked, desperate one at his boyfriend. It was Friday. They didn’t have training on Fridays, and they didn’t have a game that particular Friday either, so Ben hadn’t organized anyone from Lydia’s school to mind her, expecting to be there to pick her up. “Lydia,” Ben choked out at MJ’s questioning look. His face immediately smoothed in recognition as he used the back of his hand to wipe blood off his mouth.</p><p>“I’ll ask my dads to get her on their way to pick me up?” MJ offered. Ben shook his head helplessly, feeling sick. The vice-principal was leading the way towards the school and Dan seemed to have made herself a pseudo-barrier and was walking behind the senior boy, expecting Ben and MJ to follow. Ben, no mind how bloody MJ’s uniform sleeve now was, grabbed hold of the fabric.</p><p>“She won’t leave school with someone she doesn’t know,” he said seriously. “We have passwords and everything.” Ben would die if his sister was ever hurt because he hadn’t taught her how to be safe.</p><p>“Then I’ll tell my dads the password and they can bring her straight here,” MJ said, taking Ben’s arm and gently pulling him after the entourage. “It’s going to be okay, Benji, okay? Just keep breathing and I will help you fix this.” MJ’s tone was gentle and sure. The anger and fierce protectiveness had melted away and was replaced by a steady, strong calm that Ben had found himself relying on recently.</p><p>“If the school thinks she’s been forgotten or has been kidnapped or anything, then they ring my dad and he’ll kick my ass,” Ben said quietly, meaning it literally. “Or, worse, they call social services and then shit really gets bad.”</p><p>“Babe, I will fix this,” MJ murmured, putting his arm around Ben’s shoulders and pressing a quick kiss to the side of his head, making a face at the tacky blood left behind and scratching it off. “Sorry…”</p><p>“It’s fine,” Ben dismissed, some half-dried nose blood the least of his issues.</p><p>“Hey Auntie Dan… I mean Coach Wilds!” MJ said. He never slipped up and called her anything other than Coach Wilds at school, so it was a deliberate attempt to get on Dan’s good side and remind her they were family. Judging by the grin he gave her when she turned, eyebrow raised, suggested he wasn’t even trying to hide this fact.</p><p>“What, Henry?” She asked tiredly.</p><p>“I should probably go to the nurse,” he said, pointing at the blood on his, well, everything. “Ben’s going to take me, and we’ll pop over to the office directly after.”</p><p>“That doesn’t sound reasonable, I am sure you can get checked out yourself,” she said. MJ waved that away as if she wasn’t a teacher.</p><p>“Yes, but you see, we have something we need to fix or Ben here is going to be looking at the bottom of his dad’s shoe and I am sure you can understand why we don’t want that to happen,” MJ said. His tone was light, but the look on his face had turned serious and Ben tensed under his boyfriend’s arm at how close he’d alluded to the truth. Dan’s gaze narrowed and zoned in on Ben. She studied him, slowing to a stop and gesturing at the pair to do the same, and after a long moment she looked pained, then tired, then resigned.</p><p>“If you tell me what that means, I’m going to have to get involved aren’t I?” She asked.</p><p>“As a teacher or as my aunt?” MJ replied.</p><p>“Teacher,” she answered.</p><p>“Then yeah, by law,” MJ confirmed. Ben clenched his teeth, fear crawling up his throat and pricked at his eyes.</p><p>“So, I should just… let it go and expect you to tell me – your aunt – at dinner tomorrow,” she said slowly. Ben and MJ nodded their heads emphatically. “Go, but make sure you go directly to the office after. Your fathers will be getting calls soon,” she said.</p><p>“Going,” MJ said, guiding Ben at a faster pace towards the nurse’s office the second they were in the admin building, and taking a sharp detour into the men’s bathroom when they were out of sight. “Do you need to ring your dad?” MJ asked, already reaching for his phone.</p><p>“What? Oh, no. After I skipped school before Thanksgiving, I had my father’s number changed in my records to our landline. I’ll just delete the message the school leaves when I get home,” Ben answered. “I do need to ring Lydia’s school and let them know someone else will be picking her up though,” he said.</p><p>“And what’s the password for my dads?” MJ asked. Ben had to force the word out of his mouth, feeling as if he was betraying his sister by doing this, and he made a mental note to buy her a phone even if she was only eight.</p><p>“Ladybug,” he said. MJ’s face softened, as if he could see how much this was tearing Ben apart. He felt guilty, and ashamed. He’d failed to protect MJ from the asshole, and now he couldn’t look after Lydia on his own and needed help. MJ put his hand on Ben’s cheek and looked him in the eye.</p><p>“It’s going to be okay,” he promised. “You are trying your best and you are still doing the right thing here. I have your back, we will make this work,” he said. Ben just nodded and dialed the school.</p><p>“Hello, Greenmount Elementary, this is Aliyah Hawke in administration,” the lady answered.</p><p>“Hey, Ms. Hawke, I’m Benjamin Roads, Lydia’s older brother. I’m supposed to be picking her up after school while dad works late, but because of detention she will be getting picked up by Andrew Minyard and Neil Josten. They’re family friends. Lydia doesn’t know about the change of plans, but they know the little codeword thing so she should be okay to leave with them,” Ben said. He spoke fast, not really taking a breath. He had been poised to lie, but he hadn’t really seen the point. Even if MJ’s parents weren’t so much family friends and his father’s work was in a different country, it got the point across.</p><p>“Thanks for letting us know, Benjamin, I will have her brought to the office when the bell rings and they can collect her from here,” Ms. Hawke said, and it was as easy as that. They said goodbye and the line was disconnected. The minute Ben lowered his phone, MJ dialed out and he put it on speaker.</p><p>“Aren’t you in French?” The voice who answered the call did not seem all that thrilled to be receiving it. Ben was just surprised that a parent had memorized their kid’s classroom schedule.</p><p>“Eidetic memory aside, it’s weird that you know that,” MJ told his father before mouthing <em>Andrew</em>.</p><p>“Speak, Henry,” Andrew said firmly.</p><p>“Yes, Dad, I should be in French, but I got in a fight and I’m on the way to the office,” MJ answered honestly.</p><p>“Really?” A second voice piped up, and Ben assumed this was Neil.</p><p>“Yep, but I don’t have time for details now. Can you come get me from school at four-thirty?” MJ asked. Ben waited for politeness, or at least a ‘please’, but he didn’t give one.</p><p>“Sure, we can do that,” Neil agreed.</p><p>“You can’t walk?” Andrew asked, sounding, perhaps, a little suspicious. MJ flicked Ben a look, as if warning that he was about to bring him into this.</p><p>“No, because, um… my friend Ben has detention too and he’s supposed to pick his little sister up from school so will you pick her up and bring her here when you get me?” MJ said, managing not to rush through it unlike Ben. There was a drawn out pause that sent Ben’s anxiety soaring, but he apparently need not have worried.</p><p>“Yes, we can do that,” Neil said carefully, and Ben realized the two older men had been having a silent conversation in the pause.</p><p>“Can Ben’s parents not pick her up?” Andrew asked.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Will this child come with us?” Andrew checked.</p><p>“You will need to say ‘Ladybug’ or she won’t,” MJ explained. There was another silence and Ben gnawed on his lip until it split.</p><p>“Send us the address of the school, and where the little sister will be,” Andrew said eventually.</p><p>“What’s her name?” Neil added.</p><p>“Lydia Roads, and I’ll send you the details. Thanks Dads,” MJ said.</p><p>“You will explain later,” Neil said firmly. MJ smirked and rolled his eyes at Ben.</p><p>“See you after detention,” he told his parents before hanging up. He pulled up his text messaging thread with Andrew, the one with the eidetic memory apparently, and handed it to Ben who put in the school details, where Lydia would be waiting and her name and the password again, pressing send before giving it back.</p><p>“I hate this,” Ben muttered.</p><p>“Let me wash my face so I can kiss it better,” MJ said, walking to the sink. Ben huffed a laugh, as despondent as he was feeling, and leaned against the wall to wait. MJ washed his face, hands and arms under the faucet and dried off with paper towel before carefully prodding and poking at his chin, nose and eye.</p><p>“Any damage?” Ben asked, concerned all over again, but MJ shook his head.</p><p>“Nose isn’t broken, no burst vessels in my eye and my chin doesn’t hurt too much to touch so it’s fine,” he said. “The guy can’t hit.”</p><p>“You can,” Ben noted as MJ pulled him into his chest and kissed him on the forehead.</p><p>“I can,” he agreed before kissing Ben’s mouth gently. Ben closed his eyes and leaned into the kiss before pulling back to look up into his Prince Charming face. “Andrew taught me how to correctly fight and I go to the boxing gym with him twice a week.”</p><p>“You’re not all ‘middle school tutor’ and ‘perfect grades’ are you?” Ben said. He’d been learning to see through MJ’s smooth and well- adjusted surface to the foster kid with the troubled life that he used to be, but he was starting to realize that a lot of who MJ was, was because of his dads too. The ambition and drive to do well and care about others, and that protective streak that didn’t hesitate to jump to violence, and even the fact he shied away from attention, but had a quiet confidence to himself. That was all because of his parents. The things he liked most about him.</p><p>“I am whatever I need to be to survive and protect those I care about,” MJ said easily, pulling the door open and guiding Ben through it. “It changes. Sometimes minute to minute, but for the most part, this is me,” he said. Ben wanted to tell him that he loved him for that, but kept his mouth shut and nodded his head.</p><p>They went to the office, gave their recounts of the events separate to each other and the senior, then they were sent to class until three where they met up at the vice-principal’s office again. Detention was apparently all three gentleman sitting outside the office with a plastic chair between each of them to separate them. They could read or study, but they couldn’t talk or touch their phones. MJ pulled <em>Six of Crows </em>by Leigh Bardugo out of his bag, and the senior drew in a notebook balanced precariously on his lap. Ben stared anxiously at the carpark for the entire time, hoping to see his siter climb out of a car as anxiety burned a hole through his stomach. He only tore his gaze away when a wadded-up piece of notebook paper smacked him in the side of the face from the direction of his boyfriend. He shot MJ a glare, but the blonde smiled placatingly. All he did was wave. It was simple, but Ben managed to smile back and shake his head before turning his attention back to the window. A shiny, expensive-looking black car swung into the carpark and a bulky, blonde man climbed out of the driver’s side door. Ben nearly leapt out of his seat, wanting to see if Lydia was there, but the man climbed onto the trunk of his car with his back to the building. After a long moment, it became clear he was waiting for something and there was no one else getting out of his car. Ben sent a questioning look to MJ and mouthed, <em>Is that your dad? </em>MJ nodded his head, a tug of concern between his eyebrows. Ben wondered if he’d be allowed to leave early if he threw up. Where the fuck was his sister? If he’d been anxious and hawk-eye staring out the window before, he felt frozen now. The clicking of the clock was the only thing he could hear, and his jaw starting aching as he ground at his teeth, his fingers wrapped around the edge of his seat being the only thing keeping him from running out. He really was a failure, huh? Every time his dad had called him a waste of space felt like a lock around his throat. Every time his dad had told him he expected nothing more, the blame he’d pinned on Ben for his mother’s abandonment, it was always there, but now it was suffocating. He had one responsibility and that was Lydia, and he’d fucked up and now, at three thirty, he had no idea where she was or what to do. He’d put his relationship with MJ blind him for long enough that he got himself into trouble and had let his responsibility slide. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. He knew he had to be because he didn’t pass out in the thirty minutes it took for him to see his sister walk into the parking lot. She was walking beside another man, her tiny form wrapped up in the hot pink coat he’d forced her into before leaving that morning, and the silver sequins on the ears atop her beanie glittering from across the lot. Ben sank into his chair, letting out a silent breath that hurt his chest and throat. He tore his gaze away from his sister and looked at MJ who looked just as relieved as he felt, nodding his head at the silent question in Ben’s eyes. The man Lydia was with was his other dad. MJ winked at him and picked his book back up to finish the chapter while they waited for the last half hour of detention. Ben smiled and hugged one leg to his knee and resting his chin on it. The blonde of MJ’s parents slid off the trunk of his car and Ben watched the trio converse before Lydia was nodding her head and letting the other man help her up where Andrew had been sitting. She rifled through her bag and the two men stood facing her, their arms crossed, as she pulled her reading homework out of her bag. Ben could see her reading aloud, the small novel she’d been assigned familiar to him after helping her with it every night for a week now. MJ’s fathers looked like, admittedly short, bodyguards as they stood in front of her. They may be middle-aged, and again they were short – he could see that when compared to Lydia’s own height –, but they were still physically imposing. Yet the two men were listening to his eight-year-old sister read, even leaning forward to look at words she struggled with and help her with it. Ben had only been young when the two legends had retired from the pro league, but he was ninety-eight percent sure that the blonde one was Andrew and Neil was his husband.</p><p>Ben startled when the vice-principal came out of his office, his door slamming shut behind him, although by the look on his face it was an accident.<br/>
“Simon, you can go, I will be speaking to your mother tomorrow morning,” Mr. Wilson said firmly. The senior didn’t even respond. He grabbed his bag and left, sparing a disgruntled look at MJ as he departed.<br/>
“Benjamin, I haven’t been able to contact your father so you can go, but I will need to at least speak to him on the phone,” Mr. Wilson said. Ben nodded at him as he got to his feet, knowing full well he wasn’t going to pass on the call to his father.</p><p>“And me?” MJ asked.</p><p>“I have a meeting with your fathers now, so you can come on into my office,” Mr. Wilson said, but there was nothing kind in the invitation. MJ sighed and got to his feet, offering Ben a small smile and wave as he passed the vice-principal into the office. Ben turned to head out and rescue the two fathers from his sister’s orating, but the trio wasn’t at the car. He froze, a moment of panic seizing his body before he saw the front door open and Lydia preceded Neil and Andrew into the building.</p><p>“Lydia!” He said, grinning at his sister and opening his arms for her. She rushed forward into his arms and hugged him tight around the waist, squishing her face into his chest. He pulled her beanie off and kissed the top of her dark hair before putting it back on and pulling back.<br/>
“Are you okay?” He demanded. She made a very unimpressed face at him and crossed her arms.</p><p>“You sent strangers to pick me up,” she accused. Ben felt like he was crumbling. He couldn’t imagine what anxiety he had put her through. So he pulled her back in for a tight hug.</p><p>“I know I did, I am sorry,” he said quietly, before looking up at the two men standing nearby. Neil was hiding a yawn behind his hand, and Andrew was watching with a fairly impassive look on his face, but Ben knew he was being studied.</p><p>“You taught her well,” Neil said, lowering his hand. Ben stood up straight and Lydia sat herself down on the chair he’d vacated.</p><p>“I did?” Ben asked. </p><p>“Yeah, even though we knew her password she wouldn’t get in our car,” Neil said. Ben grinned and looked down at his sister who crossed her arms and stared right back, a defiance on her face that he wondered if he’d taught her.</p><p>“Mr. Neil said he was taking us to you at school, but you walk to my school so I said we could do that, and I didn’t want to sit in his car,” she said.</p><p>“Four miles, by the way,” Neil said. Ben glanced over at him to see him shake his head. “You do that every day?”</p><p>“Yeah, but I usually just run so it only takes thirty minutes max,” he answered. Neil smiled as if that idea pleased him, but Andrew blew his bangs off his face and rolled his eyes.</p><p>“I’m going in,” Andrew said, derailing the potential for Ben to find common ground with MJ’s dad and they watched as the pint-sized adult pushed open the door to the office and went in. Through the window, Ben saw MJ stand up to greet his dad and the height difference made him grin. MJ was six feet tall, at least. An entire foot taller than the mean looking man he figuratively looked up to.</p><p>“Now that you’re with your brother, would you like the sandwich we brought?” Neil asked, pulling a plastic bag out of the backpack he had as Ben turned back around. Lydia looked up at Ben, her expression imploring.</p><p>“Go ahead,” he told her. “Neil and Andrew are trustworthy,” he added. Lydia took the sandwich and unwrapped it neatly, crossing her legs on the seat in front of her so she could use them as a table.</p><p>“Juice too,” Neil added, handing her a juice box. Ben smiled and crouched down in front of her to put the straw in for her while she juggled the food.</p><p>“Thank you, Mr. Neil, and Benny,” she said around a bite.</p><p>“Yeah, thank you, so much,” Ben said quietly, standing up again to look at Neil. The older man just raised an eyebrow and sat down in a chair, just as a raised voice filled the room from behind the window. Lydia and Ben froze and turned their attention to the office. MJ had his head down as Andrew yelled at him, the words muffled through the window. MJ looked as if he was trying to hide a smile as his dad tore in at him and Ben turned a wide-eyed look at Neil.<br/>
“Is he… smiling?” He asked. Neil nodded his head, looking serene and patient as his husband yelled at their kid.</p><p>“Andrew is putting on a show,” Neil dismissed. “We learnt a while ago that schools don’t care all that much, as long as it looks like the kid is being disciplined. We know it isn’t beyond Henry to start a fight for no reason, but we also know it’s unlikely, so you two can fill us in after,” he explained, probably prompted by Ben’s look. Ben, who had been prepared to leg it for home the minute Lydia had finished eating, startled at the comment.</p><p>“You want me to stick around?” He asked.</p><p>“Yes. Andrew and I will take you home,” Neil said, and there didn’t seem to be much room for argument. Still, Ben tried, because the idea of sitting in the car with his boyfriend’s parents after all of this was not one he liked.</p><p>“You don’t have to, it’s only a two-mile walk to home, we can manage,” he said quickly.</p><p>“We would like to talk to your parents,” Neil said. Ben felt himself pale. His dad wasn’t home, which meant the two parents would find out that MJ had been coming to a house without parental supervision nearly every day after school, and there was the fact that they were in a position to call any number of social workers or authorities.</p><p>“What, why?” He demanded.</p><p>“When we get called asking us to pick up someone else’s child because the brother couldn’t do it, before getting called to the school for a fight, we get a little curious. We think having a chat with your parents might help us find some clarity,” Neil answered, Ben feeling more and more like a rabbit cornered by the minute. “Besides, won’t it be easier having us at your back when you tell your parents you were in a fight? Seeing as though Andrew and I doubt you’re at fault.”</p><p>“Probably, but my mum lives in Ohio as far as I know and my dad isn’t going to find out about the fight,” Ben answered, sitting down next to his sister, exhaustion weighing down his bones.</p><p>“He’s in Singapore!” Lydia added unhelpfully, chewing on the straw of her juice box.</p><p>“Or Melbourne, or maybe just San Francisco,” Ben agreed. “Just… not here. I’ll delete the call from the school when I get home and he will be none the wiser.” He chanced a look at Neil, expecting fatherly concern or even distress about their situation, but all he saw was a mild annoyance and a lot of bone deep understanding.</p><p>“How long do you get left behind for?”</p><p>“Usually between six and nine weeks,” Ben answered. “We manage though! Please don’t…”</p><p>“I won’t tell anyone,” Neil promised. “Well, except Andrew, but we aren’t going to go crying to authorities. Andrew would rather kill someone than be the reason a kid is put in the system, and I am not a fan of it myself.”</p><p>“So, you’re going to let us walk home and pretend like this didn’t happen?” Ben asked, sounding a little hopeful. Neil shook his head, but before he could speak, the office door opened and Andrew was pulling MJ out of the office by his ear, nearly bending his son in half in the process. On closer examination, it was obvious to those in front of the pair, that Andrew wasn’t actually hurting MJ and it was still just part of their show.</p><p>“Bye,” Andrew said over his shoulder and the vice-principal closed the door behind the father and son. Andrew immediately let go so MJ could straighten up. “Everything okay out here?”</p><p>“We’re going to take Ben and Lydia home now, and while Lydia does her homework, the four of us are going to talk,” Neil answered. MJ lolled his head back and sighed dramatically.</p><p>“What about?” He asked when he straightened up.</p><p>“The secret relationship and your lies by omission about there being no parents at Ben’s house,” Neil replied easily, snapping any and all amusement off MJ’s face.</p><p>“And this fight,” Andrew put in.</p><p>“You told him?” MJ asked Ben who shook his head.</p><p>“About my dad fucking off to Singapore, yeah, but only because he insisted on coming over to talk to him,” Ben answered, his voice small and insistent.</p><p>“Get over yourself, we’ve known about you two since it started. You aren’t subtle, kid,” Andrew replied. “Now get a move on.”</p><p>“High school gives Andrew hives,” Neil explained, standing up.</p><p>“Me too,” Ben muttered, helping his sister pack up her things. He carried her bag in one hand and held her hand with the other as the entourage headed towards the car, and when she demanded to sit in the middle, the teenagers felt no choice other than to oblige.</p><p>Ben unlocked the front door of the house and Lydia ran in before anyone else, first throwing her beanie across the floor, then her bag, before tripping up as she tried to take her shoes off on the stairs.<br/>
“Where are you going?” Ben demanded, holding the door open for the Minyard-Josten family behind him.</p><p>“I have to pee!” She screamed down at him before the sound of the bathroom door slamming shut echoed down the stairs. <em>Fair enough, </em>he thought to himself, locking the door behind everyone. His house was open plan, which was convenient when looking after a child he had long since decided, because he could make dinner while Lydia did her homework in the dining room or watched cartoons on the couch and he could still keep an eye on her.</p><p>“Make yourselves comfortable,” Ben said, not quite able to meet anyone’s eye. It was awkward enough having his boyfriend’s parents over without it being because they needed to ‘talk’. Ben was just glad he kept the house relatively tidy. He picked up Lydia’s beanie, bag and shoes. “I’ll be down in a second, I just need to…” he waved his handful of pink items in vague explanation and went up the stairs. He went into Lydia’s room, putting her shoes next to her door and her beanie on her dresser, hanging her bag on the back of the door handle.</p><p>“Benny!” He heard her yell, so he stuck his head out of her room and looked across at her in the bathroom.</p><p>“I’m in here,” he said. “Wash your hands,” he reminded her. She nodded quickly and disappeared, but he could hear the faucet going and she started singing the song she’d been taught in primary school so that she washed them properly. Ben waited so he could help her out of her coat and ultimately just make sure she was alright after her adventurous afternoon.</p><p>“Help please,” she said, coming into her room and shaking her hands. Ben held her bath towel out for her and when she was satisfied, he undid the buttons of her coat. At eight, Lydia was smart and patient, but she struggled with things like tying her shoes and her buttons. Ben wasn’t sure if that was normal for someone her age, but he did his best to help her and let her learn at her own pace.</p><p>“Okay bub, I need you to stay in here and do your homework, okay? The big kids and the adults are going to be downstairs talking. If you need help, just move on to the next question, and I’ll help you after dinner,” he told her.</p><p>“We watch cartoons after dinner,” she complained, her face contorting in despair. When your world was as small as it was at eight, something like this could really cause it to crumble apart.</p><p>“I know, and we will after we have done your homework. It’s a Friday so you can stay up a little later,” he promised. She seemed to consider this for a long moment before she nodded her head in easy agreement. “Good girl,” he said, letting out a slow breath.</p><p>“Will you leave the doors and lights on?” She asked as he got up to leave.</p><p>“Of course, I will,” he assured her. She nodded again and sat down on her bed with her small math booklet and her pencil. Ben left her door open and turned on the light on the landing and the stairs as he passed on his way back to the living space. MJ was sitting on the floor with his back against the armchair, the two adults sitting on the couch. Neil had his hand on Andrew’s leg, and judging by the mildly annoyed look on MJ’s face and the way conversation had paused when Ben had walked in, they’d been talking about him. He steeled himself for how this was going to go and climbed onto the armchair behind MJ.</p><p>“How long have you been Lydia’s primary caregiver?” Neil asked when he was comfortable. Ben felt himself reeling at the question and sank back in the cushions. He was defeated. He had lost.</p><p>“Mum left when I was twelve, and Dad’s stretches away have been getting progressively longer since. What started as a weekend is now a little over two months and he never stays home longer than two weeks.” It wasn’t hard for Ben to find the honesty. The words were there under the surface as they always were, and he felt equal parts anxious and relieved to let them free.</p><p>“You guys can’t call Child Protection,” MJ said into the silence that followed, sounding a little desperate. Andrew narrowed his eyes at his son and Neil nodded his head in agreement.</p><p>“We won’t,” Neil said.</p><p>“In what world would I be the reason someone went into the system?” Andrew asked, his voice firm. MJ just sighed through his nose and leaned into Ben’s legs.</p><p>“We also aren’t about to foster your boyfriend, because that would be weird for all involved,” Neil added, as if that had been an option if Ben was taken away from his home and family.</p><p>“Do any adults know about this situation?” Andrew asked Ben who shook his head.</p><p>“Just Dad.”</p><p>“Right, well, now two adults do know which ultimately means we do have to take some responsibility here,” Neil said, looking almost apologetically at Ben. “We know you have your routines and your solutions and your work arounds, and that you didn’t ask for this, but it’s how it has to be.”</p><p>“My dads couldn’t live with themselves if they just turned their back,” MJ added.</p><p>“Why do you care?” Ben asked, realizing the question had been burning in the back of his throat for a while.</p><p>“Because we know how hard it is,” Neil said thoughtfully. “Calling social services would only make the situation worse, but we can help make it better.”  </p><p>“Besides, I’m used to picking up strays,” Andrew added with a small, amused curl to his mouth, putting his hand over Neil’s where it rested on his leg.</p><p>“How can you make this easier? It’s no better when my dad is home so even if you could bring him back by some miracle, it won’t change anything,” Ben muttered.</p><p>“More bruises,” MJ supplied. Both men sat up straighter, eyebrows furrowing. Ben flicked the back of his boyfriend’s head in admonishment and got swatted away.</p><p>“If your father sticks to a pattern, he will continue to be gone for longer stretches and stay home less, and unless you want us to have him arrested for child abuse or come and give him some bruises of his own, there isn’t much we can do when he is here,” Neil said, voice hard as if the idea of beating up Ben’s father was actually not a bad one. Ben just waved that away. He was used to his father, and as tense and uncomfortable it was when he was home, he could deal with it because he knew he was leaving again. Ben knew the eggshells to walk on and, mostly, how to stay out of the way.</p><p>“But when he’s gone,” Andrew begun, “we can help.”</p><p>“How?” Ben asked, meaning it to scoff, but the hope ballooning behind his ribs leaked into his words.</p><p>“Well, instead of you running to pick Lydia up after class and practice, I will pick her up. I don’t work, and I don’t plan on ever going back to work, so I will help her do her homework at our house,” Andrew said.</p><p>“You can come and study at ours, eat dinner, all of those necessary things, then we can take you and Lydia home afterwards,” Neil added. “Weekends will be your own, as will mornings and getting to school.”</p><p>“But you can ask for help,” Andrew insisted.</p><p>“And when I am coach next year, it will be a little easier to get around,” Neil pointed out. Ben gaped at the three people in his living room. Arguments were crowding his mouth, defiance settling on his shoulders and strong sense that he shouldn’t need this from anyone because he can do it on his own. He also had questions. What if him and MJ broke up? What if Lydia didn’t want to do her homework with Andrew? What happens when his dad comes back? Were they wanting him to provide money for food and for their help? And, if they weren’t, was he going to be able to save the allowance his father left him for his time away and use it for when Lydia was going to college? Why was a sixteen-year-old boy planning his sister’s college fund?<br/>
Ben rubbed his face with his hands before tugging on his dark hair, moaning a little in frustration. He had his eyes closed, which was why he startled when he felt a hand land on his knee, but when he peered out between his fingers and saw it was his boyfriend, he covered his eyes again and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. MJ climbed up moved Ben over so he could wedge himself into the armchair beside him, half pulling Ben onto his lap in the process. It was embarrassing with his parents in the room, but unforgivably Ben felt like he was going to cry so he let his head fall against his boyfriend’s shoulder and held onto his bicep for a long moment, seeking his strength and his comfort. MJ held onto him, sitting quietly and letting Ben process this change of events, and to his parents’ credit they didn’t interrupt either. Ben let himself breathe, let himself think, let himself regroup, and MJ held him together in the process. When he felt better, he rearranged himself until he was sitting up again. He let go of MJ and turned to face Neil and Andrew who had both leaned back in the couch. Andrew was idly toying with Neil’s fingers –bending them back, letting them go, and pulling on them in a pattern that made sense to only him – while Neil leaned into his shoulder and used his other hand to peruse his phone. They looked so completely comfortable in each other’s presence, content with touch and antics, familiar and used to it. Ben wondered if he would ever know someone long enough to feel that way in their presence.</p><p>“Are you okay?” MJ asked quietly, putting his hand in the back of Ben’s hair and tugging on it gently. Ben went with the pull and made an affirming noise, which was apparently enough to get MJ’s fathers’ attention. MJ let go and Ben lifted his head again, pressing his fingertips together in front of him as he looked back at the two men.</p><p>“Are you guys being serious?” He asked.</p><p>“We’re always serious,” Andrew replied. Ben wasn’t sure he believed that, but he did decide to trust him, at least for now, and the two fathers had proven themselves trustworthy with Lydia too.</p><p>“Okay,” Ben said on a quiet breath. Help wasn’t the end of the world.</p><p>“Excellent,” Neil said, taking his hand back from Andrew and cracking his knuckles as if the manipulation had knocked them out of place.</p><p>“Now, as for this fight,” Andrew said, looking re-engaged with the conversation now that his fidget had been taken away. Ben sensed MJ’s smirk.</p><p>“The senior called us faggots because we were holding hands, I punched him in the face,” he said easily.</p><p>“Nice,” Neil said, nodding his head almost as if he was impressed.</p><p>“You didn’t break his nose?” Andrew asked. Ben wasn’t sure why their acceptance, almost encouragement, surprised him. Nothing he knew about these two men should have suggested they would condemn random acts of protective violence. Out of the corner of his eye, Ben saw MJ touch his own nose and shake his head.</p><p>“No, I went for the jaw. He tried to break mine though,” he answered with annoyance coloring his tone.</p><p>“You wanted to break his jaw or were you trying not to cause long-term damage?” Neil asked, head tilted in curiosity. Ben opened his mouth, and then snapped it shut, realizing he wanted to know the answer to that.</p><p>“No long-term damage,” MJ said in a reassuring tone, but Ben had a feeling that was for his benefit more than his parents.</p><p>“You are nicer than we are,” Andrew decided.</p><p>“Thanks, Dad,” MJ said with a grin. Ben shook his head and went to ask what any of that had meant, but light footsteps on the stairs drew his attention away and he looked over in time to see Lydia coming down to join them, her book in her hand.</p><p>“Hey kiddo, you all done?” He asked, climbing off MJ’s armchair and sitting down on the floor.</p><p>“I need help on three questions,” she answered, handing it over.</p><p>“I’m going to order dinner; will MJ be able to tell me what you two will eat?” Neil asked, taking Andrew’s phone out of the blonde’s pocket.</p><p>“Seeing as though he spends most evenings here, and I assume you eat,” Andrew said, letting Neil take his hand and unlock his phone. Ben went bright pink and a glance at MJ confirmed he has as well.</p><p>“Yeah, he can,” Ben replied. “Come on, we can do the three questions now and then you can watch Adventure Time,” he promised, getting to his feet.</p><p>“Fuck yeah,” MJ cheered.</p><p>“Your crush on Marceline is showing,” Ben shot back over his shoulder as he took Lydia to the table. His boyfriend laughed and Ben heard him explain to his parents who Marceline was before he tuned them out and helped Lydia with the three questions she’d missed and the two questions she’d gotten wrong.<br/>
It took only twenty minutes and when they were done, she rushed off to set up the TV with the cartoon and Ben met Neil at the front door to help him bring in the food they’d ordered. Andrew and MJ made themselves comfortable at the table, and Ben put together a plate for his sister before taking it to her in the living room, making sure she was sitting high enough on pillows at the coffee table. Normally, he would sit with her or they’d eat at the table, but these were extenuating circumstances.</p><p>“Can I stay here tonight?” MJ asked the table as everyone started eating. Ben snapped his head up, tearing his gaze away from watching Andrew cutting his food up into small pieces.</p><p>“Be safe,” Andrew said, which made Ben nearly choke on food he hadn’t even eaten yet.</p><p>“Be home for dinner tomorrow,” Neil added. Neither father looked up, but Ben couldn’t look away from MJ. His boyfriend winked and grinned around a mouthful of food before looking at Neil and nodding.</p><p>“Matt, Dan, Holly and Buddy are coming for dinner tomorrow, right?” He asked.</p><p>“So are Aaron, Katelyn and the twins,” Andrew agreed.</p><p>“Can Ben and Lydia come? Lydia hit it off with the twins over Thanksgiving,” MJ wheedled. Ben tried to get MJ’s attention because one meal with his immediate family right now was enough without the extended family – including his coach – involved.</p><p>“Yes,” Andrew answered, finally looking up. “You and Lydia can stay at ours tomorrow, so no one has to walk or drive late.” There wasn’t really a question there, so Ben just nodded meekly.</p><p>Ben spent the meal in silence, and almost straight after, Neil and Andrew prepared to leave. Lydia ran up to Neil and hugged him tightly, asking if he would give her piggyback rides after school again, and when he agreed, Andrew explained that he would be picking her up from school sometimes. Ben watched them make up their own passwords – which was both cute and a little beside the point – and intervened when Lydia started rambling about what sandwiches she liked.<br/>
“Go brush your teeth, then you can watch Adventure Time on my laptop in your room,” he said. She bounced excitedly and waved her goodbye before rushing off up the stairs and Ben turned back to the departing men.</p><p>“See you tomorrow, kid,” Andrew said, ruffling MJ’s hair who was still seated at the table.</p><p>“Bye dads,” he said, getting up to give Neil a one-armed hug and walk them to the door, towering over his fathers as they went.</p><p>“Be good, Henry,” Neil said with a smirk. MJ laughed and kissed the top of his dad’s head, which was a nearly comedic display in Ben’s opinion.</p><p>“Always am,” he promised. Andrew ducked under MJ’s arm and caught Neil’s sleeve on the way out, pulling him away to the car. Andrew nodded his head at Ben and MJ before climbing into the car and closing the door. Neil waved as he followed suit and Ben jumped when Andrew beeped as he drove away down the street.</p><p>“Why are you here?” Ben demanded, closing the front door and locking it.</p><p>“Rude,” MJ said, but he didn’t sound offended and when Ben looked, he was grinning. “You don’t want me here?”</p><p>“I do,” Ben muttered, stepping into his space and wrapping his arms around his waist. “I just… what are you expecting?” He asked warily. MJ pulled him in close and tucked his head under his chin.</p><p>“Adventure Time and so many cuddles,” he said quietly. Ben smiled against his chest, feeling some pressure ease knowing there was no expectations or double meaning behind ‘sleepover’. He wasn’t opposed to the act, he just wasn’t sure he was ready for that after the day he’d had.</p><p>“We aren’t watching Adventure Time with my sister in her room,” he said, pulling back.</p><p>“You have a TV in your room,” MJ reminded him. Ben snorted and extricated himself from his arms.</p><p>“How about… cuddles, kisses, and music?” He offered. MJ grinned and nodded his head. “Better than Marceline?”</p><p>“Fuck off,” MJ laughed. Ben laughed and walked towards the stairs, pointing at the table with all the rubbish and leftovers.</p><p>“I’m going to help Lydia get ready for bed and set her up in her room, can you clean up?” He asked.</p><p>“When did I sign up to be a co-parent?” MJ asked with a sigh, but he was smiling and walking towards the table.</p><p>“When you asked to sleep at my house,” Ben shot back, climbing the stairs.</p><p>“More like when I fell in love with your short ass!” MJ called after him. Ben froze, his heart in his throat, and then turned slowly around to peer down at his boyfriend. MJ was frozen too, his hands halfway towards the food on the table.</p><p>“When you what?” Ben croaked. MJ looked up, eyes wide and shrugged weakly.</p><p>“When I fell in love with you?”</p><p>“You love me?”</p><p>“Yeah?” He answered, licking his lip. Ben felt the smile crawl across his face before he had even decided that he was okay with hearing that. He’d thought it himself, a few times, especially over the past week. When MJ handed him grapes from his lunch that he wouldn’t eat, but Ben loved. When they were half-asleep in Ben’s bed, talking more than kissing, waiting until the last minute before MJ had to leave. When MJ came up behind him and kissed his cheek as he reached for a glass or plate. When the words rose in his throat, his heart swelling and toes curling with the intensity of the feeling.</p><p>“I love you too,” he said quietly.</p><p>“Benny! Adventure Time!” Lydia yelled from the landing above him. MJ, who was pink in the cheeks, nodded his head and gestured at him to continue with their plans, so Ben did. When he went to his room, MJ was sitting on the bed with his shoes off and his phone in his hand.</p><p>“It’s only seven thirty,” Ben said. “Are you going to bed?”</p><p>“Not to sleep,” MJ answered, plugging his phone into the charger he must have taken out of his school bag. “Is it okay if I take my jeans off?” He asked, not quite looking Ben in the eye. Ben laughed and kicked his own jeans off, turning to pull on an old tee shirt he slept in. They’d… definitely seen each other in less than boxers before, but it was endearing to see MJ being so shy and respectively of boundaries. When he turned, MJ was connecting his phone to the Bluetooth speaker in the corner of the room, in boxers and a hoodie from his sports bag.</p><p>“I do love you,” Ben said to his back. Music filled the room and MJ turned around, walking towards Ben and kissing him firmly.</p><p>“And I do love you too,” he promised. Ben believed him, and that was more than he had ever expected for himself. “Now, you said something about kisses and cuddles?”</p><p>“I did,” Ben agreed with a laugh, lightly pushing him in the direction of the bed. MJ lay on his back and pulled Ben on top of him, hands holding him firmly at the hips. Ben grinned down at him before kissing his nose, his cheeks, his lips… everywhere that he could. “I think everything is going to be okay,” he murmured.</p><p>“I’ll make sure of it,” MJ agreed quietly. Ben felt warm from the tips of his toes to his face and, for a long while, just lay on top of MJ, curled into his chest. Ben didn’t have to do this alone anymore, and that was a gift he could thank MJ for. He couldn’t believe he’d nearly ruined this for himself.</p><p>“Thank you for being patient with me,” Ben said quietly, sitting up so he could look down at MJ.</p><p>“Always,” he said, pushing some hair off Ben’s forehead and taking his hand, putting it under the hem of his hoodie to rest over his heart. “I got you.”</p><p>“I know,” Ben said. MJ smiled and drew him down for a kiss.</p><p>“Good,” he murmured into Ben’s smile.</p><p>
  <em>This is good, </em>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Please comment, kudos and all that good shit.<br/>If you like MJ and Ben, I will write more for them, but it's up to you guys ahaha</p></blockquote></div></div>
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